Amarnath yatra resumes from Jammu after 2-day suspension

Jammu, July 7

The Amarnath yatra resumed on Saturday from Jammu after it was suspended for two days due to inclement weather in Kashmir, with a batch of over 2,200 pilgrims leaving for the Pahalgam base camp for the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine, officials said.

However, the pilgrims registered for the Baltal route were not allowed to leave the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Valley as the authorities had suspended the yatra from the shorter 12-km track due to slippery conditions and incidents of shooting of stones, they said.

The pilgrimage from the traditional 36-km Pahalgam route resumed on Friday.

“The 8th batch of 2,203 Pahalgam-bound pilgrims, including 311 women, left in a convoy of 51 vehicles from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp at around 0240 hours and are expected to reach the base camp in Anantnag district of south Kashmir later in the day,” a police official said.

The yatra was suspended from the Jammu base camp on Thursday to avoid overcrowding in the camps in the Valley after heavy rains coupled with landslides and shooting of stones forced suspension of the yatra from the twin tracks a day earlier.

Due to the suspension of the yatra, thousands of pilgrims also got stranded in the winter capital after they reached here from across the country to undertake the annual pilgrimage in south Kashmir Himalayas. PTI